If you refer to the diagram, you'll see that when I import an ICC profile from HP on their site, it imports correctly to the printer and to the Photoshop profile list, all fine. When I attempt to try to make a custom profile based on this new preset, it is not in the "Create New Paper Preset" dialog box.

I've tried restarting the printer and the computer And nothing seems to work. Thought I would try it and downloaded a watercolor ICC profile and a new category called "additional papers" was added, however is not in the Create New Paper Preset manager.

Installing the ICC on the printer simply allows you to use it as a central store to download into any PC connected to the printer for use by your applications as an ICC profile. It does not create any paper preset on the printer that is a pre-requisite for custom profiles.

If you want to custom profile this paper, there are two ways to do it:

1. The easy way - the manufacturer provides a .oms file that has the basic characteristics. This will show up under custom papers or even under one of the normal sub categories, you go ahead an build an ICC, and you can download this on to any pc for use with your applications.

2. You have no .oms file and have to create your own preset. You can do this via the HP utility. Basically create a new paper preset. Only trick is to get the basic properties like thickness, ink levels etc. as correct as possible. Once you create the preset, you can then create a profile and everything behaves as above.

You will find that for older papers or older printers (in my case, Z3100, #2 is often the case).

Hope this helps.

I sent through a similar process profiling a few papers, but now have things working quite well.

Jsiva,Thanks very much for your input. Apparently I did not make myself clear enough in my explanation and diagram.

I did download a paper preset as a .oms file. It automatically put that file in a new folder called "Additional Papers" rather than adding it to the Fine Art Material category. Try this yourself - go to the link ( http://h10088.www1.hp.com/cda/gap/display/main/index.jsp?zn=gap&cp=20000-22089-22790-22791^149976_4041_100__ ) and download any one of the papers on that page - I chose HP Watercolor, download it and choose the file through "Import Paper Preset" in the Color Manager, and see what happens. If it doesn't add the "Additional Papers" category, I'd like to know.

If it does, then you'll see, that you can not create a custom profile based on that new addition. Also, apparently there is a difference in how HP Color Center does things with the Z3200ps compared to the Z3100. Also, I do understand how to create a new paper preset from scratch, but I'm doing testing based on specific paper types after speaking with tech people at Breathing Color. (They don't have any Z series printers so are speculating as to what settings could be tried with the Z3200ps, and I wanted to try HP's canned profile in one specific test, then create a custom profile based on it ).

Mark, sorry for the confusion, I do understand now. I went through a similar process with Canson on the Z3100. When there is no .oms file, getting the preset right is tricky. Even the settings they had were wrong. I guess, it is hard for them to test on every printer, but If I were a printer manufacturer, I'd make sure that the major paper vendors had access at least smaller formats of their printers.

Jag, no sweat man - it's all tricky stuff. The Breathing Color tech guy - Justin, said that they don't have any Z series printers but that all their testing showed that with both Canon and Epson, Lyve and Chromata White worked best with Watercolor paper profiles. I thought that was strange.

After downloading HP Hahnemuhl watercolor paper and installing it through the HP Color Center, I did a workaround since the Z3200ps won't put these downloads under normal categories. I calibrated the HP Watercolor paper using BC Lyve, then left the ICC profile the same and have printed on it. The results are an improvement over just canvas, etc.

ONE CAVEAT!! If you try this, be sure to disable the cutter in the properties or you'll wang the canvas up into the whole works. (Don't ask me how I know, LOL).

The Z3100 does automatically add the downloaded .oms files into the correct categories. For some reason, the Z3200ps does not.

Hi Mark,I've got my 44inch z3200 PS connected to my computer via a router to a wireless base station and the computer also connects wirelessly to the network so this may not be your issue, but a possibility. I sometimes have trouble getting what I created in the printer to show up on the desktop computer. There is a preference pane in one of the utilities that you can click on that syncs the desktop to the printer. I have much less of this now than I did, but sometimes I could not see additional papers from the desktop (though they were clearly there in the printer display). Clicking that preference button on and off and or restarting the printer or wireless base station would resolve the issue until the next time that I would add a paper.

Hi Mark,I've got my 44inch z3200 PS connected to my computer via a router to a wireless base station and the computer also connects wirelessly to the network so this may not be your issue, but a possibility. I sometimes have trouble getting what I created in the printer to show up on the desktop computer. There is a preference pane in one of the utilities that you can click on that syncs the desktop to the printer. I have much less of this now than I did, but sometimes I could not see additional papers from the desktop (though they were clearly there in the printer display). Clicking that preference button on and off and or restarting the printer or wireless base station would resolve the issue until the next time that I would add a paper.

Anyhow, hope this helps and good luck!Eric

Eric, Brilliant! I'll try it. Thanks for your response - you seem to be able to read, LOL

I remember an issue like this with my Z3100 now that you mention it. I emailed Ernst about this and he said he thinks it's just a snag with the Z3200ps, unlike with the Z3100, but I will definitely try your suggestion because I know that can be an issue at times. Very funny, but true. I'm not connected wirelessly, but I have seen funky stuff like this before with the Z3100.

Mark, you wrote me and I gave some advice but I do not understand what your problem is if I read this thread as well.

For the Z3100 there is no third party .oms as far as I know. For the Z3200 there are. If I download Ilford or Hahnemühle .oms files they land in the Additional etc map. If I create custom media presets based on the HP media presets present (the only way you can create custom media presets as far as I know) they land in the Custom etc map, on both the Z3200 and Z3100. You can not create custom media presets based on third party .oms files or custom media presets. There is an issue with the APS profile creation on the Z3200 where the created profile is not uploaded to the printer but you can select that it saves the profile also to the system and then you can bind that profile in HP Utility to the media preset so it will be saved on the printer too. Which is only needed if there are more systems on a network using that printer. Color Center profile creation should work straight however. The HP Utility Color Center link with the printer can be cut on both Z3200 and Z3100, more stable on XP than on Vista in my experience. Shutting power down and up of the printer is the way I do it. Often a remedy for other printer problems too. Some media presets for art papers give a higher load of ink than the canvas choices. I have used HP Prof Matte canvas for the canvas qualities I work with. After the varnish is applied with a spray gun the gamut is sufficient in my opinion. I do not use the canvas qualities you use. Little done with canvas lately.

Thanks for your reply. Mainly, my issue is that when downloading the files from HP - in particular, the HP Hahnemuhl Watercolor, then installing it, it puts it in a new file called "additional papers" rather than in the normal spot, such as "Fine Art Papers". When that watercolor file with ICC profile is in the additional papers folder, a custom media preset can not be created, as you have indicated. I haven't seen where you can select that it saves it to the system - I'm confused about that. It does go into the additional papers file and it does show up in the printer too, but in the additional papers folder, not under the normal papers, unfortunately, because then custom presets could be built on it, if it did.

I'm on a Mac, and there may be a significant difference in systems. I may try installing the HP Utility in VMWare that runs on my Mac, and I'll see how it works on the Windows XP platform and be able to compare.

I'm pushing the envelope with testing Ernst, and I have used a custom profile based on HP Pro Canvas. There are several others I have found that are much better, based on my testing, using media presets for some of the art papers.

As far as I know, I'm not having connectivity issues, and have powered on and off the systems just to be sure.

Thanks again for your help - appreciate it as always.

-Mark

PS - OK - I just installed the HP Z3200ps and HP Utility with HP Color Center on my XP Virtual Machine via VMWare, and for the most part - all the same features are in the Mac and Windows utilty. So I found that it does indeed save imported presets in a different folder: (This is what the Import Paper Preset Management notice says):

"Use the UPDATE button to synchronize with your printer. The printer will restart after the synchronization. You will be able to select the paper from the Front Panel under the "Additional HP Media" or in "Custom paper" category. The paper color profile will also be ready to use immediately from your application."

So I'm out of luck when trying to make a custom profile/preset based on even HP's additional downloadable media, since it doesn't go into the normal categories or even the custom paper categories but rather into the new "additional media" category, and the additional media category is not listed in the create new paper preset manager, period, so no can do. Problem solved, even though I'm not happy about it.